Matthew Malaghan
Founder, AUSPERL Group of Companies
Matthew Malaghan was born and raised in Auckland attending
Kings College before graduating from Otago University with a
Bachelor of Commerce. After working in his father’s transport
business in Auckland and Melbourne, Matthew relocated to London to work for a shipping
company before being transferred to Madrid and to Buenos Aires.
On his return to Auckland, Matthew became involved in a small quarrying business with a
processing plant in West Auckland and a quarry in the central North Island. With seven staff,
he took ownership of the business in April 2001. Today, the business has over 80 staff and
operates in Auckland, Sydney, Barcelona, Bangkok and Houston along with a mobile
manufacturing plant that undertakes offsite projects.
Other than running a business, Matthew continued his education completing the chartered
directors’ course through the Institute of Directors in 2008 and graduating with an MBA from
the University of Auckland in 2016.
Matthew is also interested in people, serving as a Trustee of the Malaghan Institute of
Medical Research (MIMR) for twelve years until 2019. The MIMR was previously a medical
research institute connected with Victoria University in Wellington before being renamed
after Matthew’s grandfather who became ill and later died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a
cancer that with medical advances is now curable. Based on the need for independent
medical research in New Zealand, the MIMR has since flourished and currently is undertaking
world leading medical research in immunotherapy as an alternative to chemotherapy to fight
certain cancers.
Matthew is married with three children, one of who also currently serves as a reservist in the
NZ Army, and enjoys travel, the outdoors and keeping fit.
Mark Cross
Company Director
Patron for LSV
Mark Cross is from Palmerston North, where he attended high school and university
studying accounting and finance before working in Australia and the United Kingdom
for a significant period.
Throughout his career Mark’s has work has spanned across many industries
including auditing, investment banking, governance and consultancy, serving on the
boards of many organisations. Mark is currently the chair of Chorus, a director of
Xero, a director of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, a board member of ACC, and chair of
the ACC Investment Committee, while also involved with start-up technologies
companies involved in software and surfboard manufacturing.
An avid endurance athlete, Mark has competed in numerous challenging events over
the years, including multi-day 250km running events and Ironman triathlons, twice
qualifying for the World Championships. When not training Mark enjoys tennis, golf,
and spending time at the gym.
Mark lives in Auckland with his wife Angela, to whom he has been married for 30
years, and they have two daughters in their 20s. Mark is proud of his family’s
Defence Force heritage, with a grandfather who served in an armoured regiment in
North Africa and Italy during World War II, and a father who was a Captain in the
Territorial Force (5th Battalion of the Royal NZ Infantry Regiment).
Emma Lovett
Site Manager, PAE (New Zealand) Limited
Emma was born and raised in Auckland. She attended Papakura High School but left early to start a
family and where she become a stay-at-home parent to her two children.
Emma entered the workforce as a part-time cleaner at the Papakura Military Camp (PMC) starting
her journey with the NZDF in the facilities management industry. She progressed into a Site
Administration role with PAE and eventually became the Site Manager, a position she has held for
the last eight years. During this time, she also took on additional responsibilities for two years as the
National Quality Manager, driven by her passion for quality and continuous improvement.
s.9(2)(a)
Emma has a strong desire for learning
and growth for both herself and others. She enrolled in various correspondence courses focused
primarily on leadership and management to acquire new skills and expand her knowledge base.
Balancing full-time work, studying, and motherhood proved to be a challenge, but she found it to be
very rewarding.
In 2021, Emma was nominated and selected as a finalist for the Facilities Management Association
New Zealand (FMANZ) Young Achiever of the Year. That same year, she won the CEO Award in PAE’s
inaugural “Making a Difference” Awards.
Seeking a healthier lifestyle, Emma developed a passion for the gym, focusing on both cardio and
weight training. She has completed four gym challenges, placing in each competition. She is now
considering competing in a bodybuilding competition in the near future.
Emma lives in South Auckland with her husband and their two children,
s.9(2)(a)
She
is working towards obtaining a Bachelor of Applied Management, which she expects to complete by
July 2025.
Gagau Annandale-Stone, Regional Commissioner Wellington
Gagau’s name is Samoan and is pronounced by putting together Nga (like the nga in
Singapore) and ngau (sounds like ‘our’). As the Commissioner she leads MSD’s
Wellington region. This includes overall responsibility for nine service centres providing
employment, income, and housing frontline services. A key part of the role is the
strategic management of MSD’s people and resources, effectively integrating with our
partners across agency, employers, providers, Iwi and NGOs to deliver outcomes for our
clients and our communities.
Gagau brings a broad range of experience in leadership roles
across the private and public sector, with a strength in people
and change management, leading large service delivery teams.
Gagau started her public service career with MSD, when she was
appointed to lead the contact centre business.
Gagau continued her work in key Ministry roles including General
Manager Employment Services, Change Communication Lead
across Service Delivery operations, and leading regional directors across the country.
Before her move to the public sector, Gagau worked in senior leadership roles in the
banking industry. She received international recognition for her work in business
excellence, innovation, and change leadership, including an EEO Trust (walk the talk
award). When banking was going through huge change in the early 90's Gagau was
appointed to set up and run ANZ's telephone banking centre (the concept of doing
business by phone was new - ANZ was one of the first). Her work involved important
innovations in the late 90's, introducing mortgage lending, multi languages and new
technology into the contact centre environment.
Gagau was born and bred in Porirua where her mother was their first female Pacific City
Councillor. Gagau continues her mother’s legacy with her work in and outside of
MSD. Gagau is a service medal holder of PACIFICA INC – a national women’s group that
focuses on political and social concerns for Pacific women. She’s a coach and mentor of
young Pacific women. Gagau has an MBA, Master’s in business administration from
Victoria University.
A few years ago, Gagau and several of her managers took on the challenge of doing the
‘longest day’ - starting at the crack of dawn and finishing the entire circuit. Gagau is very
passionate and a strong supporter of LSV and knows life can be tough for our young
adults – her commitment will be to make sure all participants graduate confident in the
knowledge that MSD is a go-to for employment, financial and development support.
BIO
Lee Gardiner
Lee holds a law degree from the University of Canterbury and is an executive leader with 20+
years of senior management experience predominantly in the HR, coaching and mentoring, and
people and culture transformation spaces, including health and safety and change management.
Lee is currently the GM Social Infrastructure and Transformation for Citycare Property, leading a
business unit that works with central government agencies including NZ Police, Oranga Tamariki,
Department of Conservation, Department of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Education and others.
Lee is passionate about supporting the leaders of today whilst building the leaders of tomorrow
and uses an authentic and empathic leadership style. Lee has also penned articles on the
importance of increasing employability and supporting female leadership.
As a strategic thinker, Lee is a strong executor, a high-performance team builder and an energy
generator. She challenges the status quo and constantly works for improvement and positive
change for organisations and individuals.
Lee is Ngāti Tuwharetoa and a champion for Māori development, achievement, equity and
inclusion, and is also an ally of the LGBTQA community.
Steve Abley
Steve is an engineer and the founder of his business, Abley, that employs
about 60 people working to improve community wellbeing by tackling
transport challenges. Steve is also a husband, father to three girls, and an avid
adventurer.
This is quite different to where Steve started life. When he was 18 months old
Steve’s father died by suicide and he then grew up in a single parent household
as an only child supported by a government benefit. Despite not having a
tertiary education when he started in the work force, Steve’s hard work has
seen him develop a career, business and a family.
In his spare time Steve searches for learning opportunities and continues to
push himself. Steve has recently sailed the Sydney to Hobart yacht race,
engaged in blue water sailing Fiji to NZ and crewed on an expedition vessel to
the Auckland Islands. He is currently learning to fly and gain his private pilot’s
licence.
Steve is looking forward to being a part of the LSV S04/24 experience, meeting
you and learning about your goals.
Laura Burke
Laura Burke is the National Operations Manager at Downer, the leading provider in infrastructure
services across Australia and New Zealand.
Laura grew up in Wellington and then moved to Christchurch in 2011 to study Civil Engineering where
she attained a masters degree with a major in construction management.
At Downer, Laura started as a site engineer and then her career gained momentum. She progressed
through various roles including estimating, bid management and leading the National Tendering team
and major transport tenders across New Zealand.
A career highlight of hers was a three month stint in the Solomon Islands, a life changing experience
bought about through Downer’s partnership with Volunteer Services Abroad (VSA). There she worked
with the Ministry of Education to help build and maintain schools.
More recently, Laura has taken on the role of National Operations Manager, leading Downer’s Road
Marking, Green Spaces, ITS and Crane teams. Her vision is to empower people to do their best work,
provide the right tools and environment, and ensure they enjoy themselves.
Outside of work Laura enjoys the outdoors - swimming, cycling and tramping. Family and friends are
important to her and she enjoys time spent with them.
Since 2015, Laura has also been a volunteer with civil defence response team NZRT14, holding various
roles, including team leader for five years, deploying to numerous states of emergencies.
